#like if i was Actually getting the Male Privilege (mostly experienced as base level being treated with more respect yes?)

[bbqhooligan]

i get trans men being filed in as Man (derogatory) by other queer people i do it to myself

[morlock-holmes]

Okay, mostly when I talk about “intersectionality” people gently or rudely explain that I don’t quite get the concept. And, you know, fair enough, I’m not a deeply read scholar. I found this Vox explainer about the concept.

I’m looking at Demarginalizing the Intersection, the paper Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw wrote which coined the term. I read it a long time ago and mostly don’t remember it, but here’s a neat little metaphor:

Consider an analogy to traffic in an intersection, coming and going in all four directions. Discrimination, like traffic through an intersection, may flow in one direction, and it may flow in another. If an accident happens in an intersection, it can be caused by cars traveling from any number of directions and, sometimes, from all of them. Similarly, if a Black woman is harmed because she is in the intersection, her injury could result from sex discrimination or race discrimination. 

Judicial decisions which premise intersectional relief on a showing that Black women are specifically recognized as a class are analogous to a doctor's decision at the scene of an accident to treat an accident victim only if the injury is recognized by medical insurance. Similarly, providing legal relief only when Black women show that their claims are based on race or on sex is analogous to calling an ambulance for the victim only after the driver responsible for the injuries is identified. But it is not always easy to reconstruct an accident: Sometimes the skid marks and the injuries simply indicate that they occurred simultaneously, frustrating efforts to determine which driver caused the harm. In these cases the tendency seems to be that no driver is held responsible, no treatment is administered, and the involved parties simply get back in their cars and zoom away. 

To bring this back to a non-metaphorical level, I am suggesting that Black women can experience discrimination in ways that are both similar to and different from those experienced by white women and Black men. Black women sometimes experience discrimination in ways similar to white women's experiences; sometimes they share very similar experiences with Black men. Yet often they experience double-discrimination-the combined effects of practices which discriminate on the basis of race, and on the basis of sex. And sometimes, they experience discrimination as Black women-not the sum of race and sex discrimination, but as Black women.

And to me, and Crenshaw as well, the obvious next (or preceeding) step is to extend this to African American men, as well. I don’t think it would be accurate to say that in 2019 “African American men experience the benefits of male privilege but the drawbacks of racial discrimination.” and expect that to explain the experience of being an African American man.

And if it doesn’t work now, it really would be just flat-out nuts to talk that way about African American men in 1840.

And so it seems to me that the next step from there would be to just start rejecting the idea that we can sum and compare different oppressions like some kind of DBZ power level.

Except, right in that Vox article:

Other popular anti-intersectionality arguments may sound familiar: that it promotes victimhood, that it causes infighting, or that it’s no more than an invention of out-of-touch, whiny people on college campuses. That’s because they’re the very same criticisms that could be made, and have been made, about feminism itself — or anti-racism, or any other push for equality. In each of these contexts, the pushback tends to come from those who’ve been included all along and think efforts to include others aren’t worth the messiness and fuss.

So, say on one side we have a lower-class black woman in a happy marriage who is active in a liberal church and she gets into an argument with an upper class bisexual white woman who has only just recently escaped an abusive relationship.

Which of those two women has “been included all along?”

To me, the question itself seems wrong, and it seems wrong because it doesn’t matter what direction the car came from if it still hits you.

And I just had this moment of extreme clarity, reading that.

Beneath the politcal correctness or identity politics or “has the left gone too far” none of that is the major problem. The thing that I can’t deal with is that culturally, the American left likes to tell you what you think.

“You only objected to my harmless behavior because you’re so used to being included and my problems don’t mean anything to you. The only reason you hated that movie was that it starred women and you aren’t used to change. You cast that vote because you are racist.”

“Now that we’ve identified the character flaw that actually animates your decisions, let’s speculate about why you have that flaw and haven’t fixed it yet.”

Your real situation and your narrative about why you do certain things are easily brushed aside as irrelevant distractions to what’s actually going on, and the discourse norms that operate in really left-wing spaces don’t really give you a comeback, so the best course is to sanitize your opinions in such a way that nobody will want to pry into the unconscious -isms that must actually be animating your behavior.

It’s fake and exhausting and makes a mockery of huge chunks of left-wing theory

[aikainkauna]

Fic mehm

This was shortish, so might as well post it here. Snurched from the lovely @trelobita .

-What is your total word count on AO3?

-1 421 808. That little?!? I thought I would've gone past the 2 million mark a long time ago. What with Connie whipping me on the way he does.

-How often do you write?

-When the right mood/inspiration comes, and when I'm healthy enough (both mentally and physically) to be in writing condition. Which is not often enough; I hate it when I do want to write, but brain fog and/or physical fatigue mean I can't keep my brain going or my body upright. That's mostly for fiction, though. I can type bloggity waffle like this, and could just about proofread a sex toy review today despite it being a brainfog/tireded day. The deadline for the review was today, so I did it under duress and must've left something out or fucked up some grammar as consequence. Finnish conjugations are hell when your memory is shot to pieces; English is much easier to write because you don't have to remember how to conjugate a word to denote it's in the past tense for a plural with a conditional towards place A, signifying inclusion. No, I'm not joking. Sauvallanikinkos? ("Also with my wand, too, maybe?")

-Do you have a routine for writing?

-My body isn't good with routines and schedules, so no. The only pattern I have is to try and get 1000 words done at least and then to email myself the latest draft after I've finished writing.

-What are your favourite tropes?

-Have you got a month? (This question foolishly asked about your favourite kinks and tropes and pairing types all in the same question, BTW, so I split it up into three questions, because... c'mon.)

Tropes:

-Flawed characters who are still somehow understandable and appealing; not the typical Asshole Protagonist or antihero thing so much but more of an... well, I guess it's just good characterisation I prefer, in the end. Not that kind of squickily obvious macho power fantasy sold as "grittiness" just for the sake of being an asshole (funnily enough, that kind of crap usually comes from the kinds of people who have too much privilege in the first place). So, yeah, good characterisation that's still got some shreds of humanity left is my jam.

-Telepathic lovers. Exactly because it hurts so much when the person who's supposed to love you the most and to understand you the best doesn't, and vice versa. So that's a big RL trauma and squick I prefer to fix, because in fic, I CAN.

-That's a major one, actually. Fix-its not so much on a plot level but on a human level. Especially sexism/gender bullshit-breaking fixes. Fix-its get a bad rap, but that kind of thing, just like the bashing of romance and fanfic, sets off my "ah, this wouldn't be the devaluing of something considered empathic and female/feminine again, now would it?" alarms.

-This overlaps with the pairing thingy, but the Depraved Bisexual is my favourite character type to write. All the Connies, Tennant!Peter Vincent, Captain Renault, Zainab, Laura, etc... YES.

-Male character gives up some masculine privilege he doesn't fancy anyway for the sake of love and empathy/female character gives up stereotypical female things she doesn't fancy anyway in order to be herself and free herself as much as she can from society's chains. Give Torsten all the pwetty dwezzez he wants and for Falcon!Yassamin to remain childfree, dammit!

-Man cuddles and medicates woman during her period and actually empathises/feels how awful it is. As I was saying about the fix-its...

-Funny banter, even if I can't write it as hilariously as I'd want to.

Favourite kinks?

-Poetic prose and Romanticism. It's word porn or nothing, baby.

-Historical detail, accuracy preferred but depends on how the story wants to go (the Barmakids DON'T get butchered horribly by Harun al-Rashid in 803, TYVM).

-Anal! That's almost too obvious to mention.

-Androgynous, genderbending, sex-bending, femme men. Why do you think Connie is the love of my life?

-Lots of arousal-drippage.

-Some way for the bottom to see themselves being banged. Mirrors or telepathy or magic or video camera projecting it before their eyes or whatever. Unfff.

-Orgasms. Always orgasms to complete satisfaction. Orgasm denying or writing it badly or so vaguely that characters/readers can't get any catharsis/release for the arousal is a huge squick. That's a hard limit. Fuck characters who tease and don't let someone get off.

-Psychological/emotional depth. That's such a no-brainer it shouldn't even be necessary to mention (although in these days, it seems to be, because apparently wanting that is now a repressed sexual minority instead of normal human, especially female, sexuality. Oh, fuck off). Yeah, these memes do bring out the pet peeves about internalised misogyny, don't they? Especially the sort that manifests itself in sputter-inducing ignorance. Even my medieval characters and their somewhat dated and essentialist ideas of sex and gender are ahead of Tumblr in the very basics, FFS.

-BDSM that's based very much on extreme care and healing, the sort that uses the intense sexual activities/sensory overload as a kind of way to heal the sub's anxieties and to help the sub let go, achieve catharsis and release. And for the top's love to be the guiding, ravishing, then healing and comforting force that contains the sub and the sub's anxieties in a fiercely loving and protective way and absolutely, so that not a drop spills over. So, yep, BDSM as therapy is my kink in both RL and in fic. Not so much a desire to humiliate or to be humiliated, but on the contrary, to value and to honour the other half. The top finds strength and validation through being the healer, through their power being able to do something good (instead of tearing someone down and having power over them through that). Yes, I know that's not everyone's idea of BDSM, but it's mine and that's what you'll get if it's a healthy relationship I'm trying to portray. (The Barrings and Zainab and Fadl don't have the healthiest ideas of sex, anyhow; Jaffar/Pwinzezz usually do.)

And I'm leaving out so many. You only have to look at my Ao3 pages to see the recurring themes:p

Favourite pairing types?

-Experienced Depraved Bisexual Character/Less Experienced and/or Repressed Character, GIMMIE. Fucking love that shit.

-Similar: Older, More Experienced Man/Younger, Horny Woman.

-Horny couple, usually M/F, seduce someone into a threesome. The Rosesverse and Devilry are full of this, so might as well admit it.

-Do you have a favourite fic of yours?

-I do have a soft spot for the first two fics in the Falconverse. As if you didn't all know that already! They do have some noticeable flaws here and there, especially the first one (I still insist that weird lube choice was HIS and not mine; I do know better and yelled at him at the time), but they still contain my deepest and most profound writing both erotically (and I mean that in the widest sense of the word, encompassing all things Love) and spiritually and character-wise. Defy Not The Stars also turned out better than I expected, considering I had never attempted so much plot and a traditional historical romance novel before. But I guess that Roses, what with its length, has allowed me to explore more aspects of the characters and their lives than anything else I've written. And of course, considering Devilry is my most-read saga ever, I do have a soft spot for that pile-up of a car crash. If only for the sheer intensity of the ride; I was just thinking yesterday how it really was aghori sadhana done through writing. Meditating in a graveyard is for wimps; try spending months in Torsten Barring's fragrant boypussy.

-Your fic with the most kudos?

To no one's surprise, Because The World Belongs To The Devil, at 234 kudos.

-Anything you don’t like about your writing?

-I suck at pacing sometimes. The sex scenes tend to run overlong if I write them in several sessions instead of just one go. It's not that the characters want to try different sex acts and shag more than once during a night, but more that the tension is spread out unevenly ("JFC, why did they change position again? I want them to just fucking come already, damnit!") This is obviously a result of how many things *I* see in my mind's eye during a wank; it's always more of a clipshow of different sex acts and pairings and orientations than one straightforward scenario. I'll be more mindful of that in the future and have been watching out for it in the past few fics already; I don't think the shags in The Guardians of Samarkand overran, for example.

-And sometimes my kinks get too obvious and repetitive for me, too, the way any porn gets tedious and repetitive. But on the other hand, I know very well that fanfic *is* about us imposing our kinks on our darlings, no matter how much we may go on about our dedication to characterisation and such. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: what's key is to get away with your kinks *but* in such a way that they can also engage the reader and that they become interesting and enjoyable not just for you, but for the readers, too. And you need good characterisation for that, and it's a really delicate balance to juggle your kinks and believable characterisation.

-Something you *do* like about your writing?

-I can write immersively and deeply and engage all the senses (sight, touch, scent...) in rich detail, as well as go deeply and profoundly into the emotions. And write some fucking hot porn ;) Those are the things I've had praise for, at least. Maybe my spiritual bits aren't as relatable or something, because people hardly ever remark on those (interestingly, my mum is the only one to have taken up those bits! But I skim over the sex scenes when I read the fics to her, so she only gets the gen). Or then it's the fact that most of the time it's Thief of Bagdad fic, and thus in an Islamic context, and most readers aren't familiar enough with, say, Sufism, to feel like they're qualified to comment without making arses out of themselves. But of course I like my spiritual bits; I'm an ex-religions major!

This had a taggity thing at the end, but I hate doing those because it always puts pressure on them even if you say they don't have to (come, now. The pressure is there, the moment you mention someone by name). I don't own the meme or you, so, as always: do what thou wilt.

[freedom-of-fanfic]

a comprehensive guide to mlm shipping habits in transformative fandom

anonymous said:

Ok, this is going to be a controversial one, but her me out: do you think it's a bit weird that so many women in the fandom (most of them straight or bi) only show interest in mlm ships? I know on a personal level everybody has their reasons and I don't think there's anything wrong with liking mlm in any sense, but for so many women to only relate to relationships where they aren't represented is a bit... weird. Not to mention knee-jerk reactions to any mlf pairing 🤔

This is far from a controversial question. People have been mystified that transformative fandom - primarily made up of women* - is ‘only’ interested in mlm for as long as transformative fandom has been a recognized phenomenon.

A caveat for the terminology in this post: as society at large tends to forget/ignore/reject the gender spectrum and transgender people, ‘male/men’ = characters referred to with male pronouns in canon and ‘female/women’ = characters referred to with female pronouns. (NB/agender/genderqueer people don’t come up, unfortunately.)

So first let me point out that transformative fandom is not only on AO3/tumblr. AO3 stats in particular give a very skewed idea of what fandom focuses on. Both ff.net and wattpad - fanfic archives which dwarf AO3 - have far higher ratios of m/f (to m/m) fic than mlm-focused AO3: ff.net is about 50/50 and has more genfic (no pairings) while wattpad features lots of m/f fic, often in the form of (male)character/(female)reader stories.

In other words, Fanworks are NOT mostly mlm; it’s just likely that we tend to notice m/m more than m/f because m/f is the ‘default’ - unmarked, and thus overlooked.

secondly, while you’ve lumped straight and bisexual women together in your ask, if you separate straight and bisexual fandom participants you get an interesting picture in regards to the typical ‘straight women are the biggest m/m fans’ common wisdom:

In a 2013 survey of AO3 users*, heterosexual female respondents were slightly less likely to be both readers and creators of M/M works - 87% were readers, compared to 90% overall, and 32-33% were creators, compared to 40% overall.

according to a variety of smaller, previous polls on various sites, the majority of m/m (and f/f) fans identify as queer (and based on a thorough dissertation pending, the stats are about 50/50 ‘mostly straight’/’mostly non-straight’).

Now with those caveats out of the way ... why is mlm popular in a space that is primarily dominated by women**? I honestly don’t think this can be truly quantified. the reasons vary from person to person too greatly. But there’s a lot of theories and a lot of anecdotal evidence for those theories. Here’s some of them, in no particular order:

it’s male privilege (sexism/misogyny). 

Male privilege: Male societal privilege and and bias feeds into media bias. media is heavily male-dominated (more male characters, usually played by cis men where actors are called for, with more central/leading roles and more screentime). Even conversations between female characters tend to focus on the male characters. The media bias then itself contributes back to societal bias - and fandom bias - towards seeing men/male characters as more interesting, more dynamic, and more varied than women/female characters.

Flip side: societal bias towards men leads directly to a relative lack of interest in women/female characters. they have less screentime, less interaction with one another, and are less centralized by the plot. Their stories are more likely to revolve around a male character in the cast. And when they do get the same treatment as male characters, audiences are very hard on them.

it’s simply a function of statistics. the overrepresentation of male characters compared to female characters has a natural consequence. If you do the math, that exponentially increases the odds of a mlm ship being fanned over compared to an m/f or wlw ship.

it’s also an observable phenomenon across multiple character demographics.

in addition to having more roles, relationships between masc characters are often where the emotional heart of a story lies. people tend to ping on that in and create fan content for it.

it’s because fanworks are a function of wish fulfillment, taking various forms:

straight women, being sexually attracted to men, consume mlm (nsfw) fanworks for the same reason straight men might consume wlw porn: double the eye candy. (the fact that straight women are actually less likely to consume or create mlm fanfic than non-straight women suggests this may not be as prevalent as often assumed.)

non-straight characters are still incredibly uncommon in mass media; transformative fandom, which is mostly non-straight, creates their own representation (perhaps with bias towards the characters with more emotional connection in canon.)

non-straight relationships are even less common than non-straight characters, and are unlikely to get much canon focus if they do exist. fandom fills this gap. (conversely, m/f pairings are far more likely to receive canon fulfillment and canon focus, so there’s less need to create fan content for it.)

(white cis) male bodies are both more common in (western) mass media and ‘unmarked’. like m/f pairings, white cis males are perceived as ‘default’ due to white/cis/male privilege. If racism, transphobia, and sexism weren’t enough on their own to increase content about pairings between characters of that description, that privilege also means that fictional characters of this description are the least likely to be seen as needing protection by policing elements in fandom, increasing the free rein on content creation. thus: fandom produces more mlm fanworks despite being fannish over m/f and f/f ships as well, which increases content obscurity, which increases free rein, which increases content creation, etc.

relatedly: women’s stories/sexuality is too fraught. male privilege/internalized misogyny leads directly to women’s stories and afab bodies being politicized.   some afab people have hangups about fictional representations of themselves in nsfw content, being uncomfortable with portrayals of people like themselves in fiction, and even sickened by depictions of pleasure experienced by bodies with vaginas (particularly in f/f works). mlm stories create enough distance for women to enjoy it without distraction by concerns of misogyny or fear of something hitting too close to home in the experience (and cis mlm nsfw content in particular provides a safe space for afab people who are bothered by depictions of afab pleasure for whatever reason). 

it’s an outlet for afab people discovering they are not straight or not cis. they may still identify as a ‘cishet woman’, but they are consuming mlm works because it resonates with a part of them that they haven’t consciously recognized.

In conclusion: at first glance it might seem weird that fandom seems to spend a lot of time on mlm, but this is both not entirely true and (where it is true) there are many, many reasons for it.

I’ve spent 8 hours compiling links and piecing together this post now so that you can have a comprehensive guide to the reasons that parts of fandom seem to be dominated by mlm stories, so I’m going to wrap up now. For more fanwork statistics, try these links:

AO3 Ship Stats Masterpost by @centrumlumina​

ToastyStats tag on @destinationtoast​

For more analysis on why mlm is popular (and wlw not so much), try these links:

Why is there so much slash on AO3?

Why mlm? (and some of the responses)

Femslash and Fandom

Femslash Can Save the World if We Let it

and this essay briefly sums up the migration of online transformative fandom over the last 15 years or so, giving context to AO3 fic stats.

One final note: the comparative prevalence of mlm to wlw would suggest that male privilege and bias is primary motivation for its popularity, but wlw was not always so scarce as it seems to be now. Just as you might expect, shows with a mostly-female cast had massive amounts of wlw content: sailor moon, utena, etc. But there’s reason to believe that purity culture has stifled wlw popularity, and that’s a damn shame.

*The largest fandom demographic survey from a reputable source (that I am aware of) was based on AO3 users, advertised primarily via Tumblr, and analyzed by @centrumlumina​ in 2013. I’m pulling my stats from this survey, but be aware it has significant limitations.

**in my personal experience, many of those in fandom who identify as women are cis women, but also many of those in fandom who do not identify as women are afab/were socialized as a woman before identifying differently. However, I don’t currently have survey data to back this up.

[hippyspacewitch]

This has been building up for a while and this recent “bible” argument really bothers me. I can’t and won’t stay quiet about this. This is pungent with Fox News and the extreme Republican views. How can you not feel for people. It is genuinely upsetting and heart breaking. Those who stand on the side of coldness and disregard for life. You’re beyond despicable. There just aren’t words powerful enough to describe how much. Hypocritical. Sickening. These are words we could rightfully use to set the tone for an administration that strongly advocates putting children into concentration camps, separating families, while at the same time declaring it always necessary to follow through with every pregnancy. How cruel and lacking self awareness can you be? No, this is done in order to keep people down, and maintain control. Willful ignorance evolves into ultimate evil again.

I am not a sadness seeking person. I’m not the misery chick. Coming off a good high, actually. I’m living my life, feeling good. Aren’t I a lucky duck. Sweat is smelly, but it feels so good to get out of my skin for a bit. Looking more fit, take a pic, feeling happy. Whelp, let’s take a little trip to yon’ internet, gonna post another selfie of my cute face, look at those dimples! Wait, I’m not looking at my dimples anymore.

Looking at what’s going on in the world instead, so I continue reading NEWS, which is based on FACTS. I know. REALLY crazy to hear. Hopefully that catches on one day. Regardless, I am incredibly saddened. Only wish to repost the unpleasant articles I read, hoping it helps create awareness. It doesn’t feel like an appropriate time for sharing pleasantries or my happiness, because I’m truly very upset with the direction this current regime is leading our nation.

We weren’t too far from that standard already, but snowflakes are pushing back hard, trying to double down on ending crucial necessities needed to maintain a semi-capable, albeit heavily flawed, semi-civilized society. So many people have died to protect the right just to exist with dignity, relative to that previously stated fact alone, as it pertains mainly to the elongated fight for basic human rights. People of all races and cultural backgrounds have died for that much. I’m wholeheartedly dissatisfied and sickened by the actions of not just the notorious current administration, but the White House too, along with those who see the overall standard of humanity that so many people hold, as anything short of unacceptable. If you accept this, you should feel ashamed. I can’t say that enough, if you don’t hear your momma’s voice. If you continue to follow me, I’ll make sure you hear my voice enough.

I’ll make you feel something, whether you just stop reading because you can’t handle the truth, or if you’re feeling froggy, ready to speak against me, (I’ll weed y’all out.) or hey, you evolve at least far enough to want to see the world be better someday. (Work toward the latter.)

Therefore I am strongly urging and pleading with COGNITIVELY DISSONANT WHITE PEOPLE out there. It is long past time you MAKE A CHANGE, concerning the way you think about racism and race. SPECIFICALLY ADDRESSING people of PRIVILEGE here, anyone born into the Christian faith, not specific enough, here - WHITE PEOPLE! Yes, I am one, and I even fit all that above criteria. Well look at that. I can speak for myself and therefore others like me. Coming from a place where I was misdiagnosed AMAB (that’s assigned male at birth) I can absolutely say it is EASY for me to recognize the first 27 years of my life I was living with the highest standard of privilege in the United States. I still live with privilege as a white person, even as a transgender woman.

Anyone who knows me well enough, might say, “Well, Eris you’ve described what it’s like to live in an impoverished area, with high levels of crime, gang violence, and from what you tell me, you had reason to be afraid. That doesn’t sound like privilege” To which I would respond to myself as someone else, for the purposes of making a point in this hypothetical scenario that fits my point in the end, “Self that isn’t myself, because I’m not an idiot. We see comment sections for days, with white people fired up, wanting so bad to let the world know from their brand new iPhone, they experienced some semblance of living within poverty. White people essentially bragging about having a cup of coffee in the ghetto. It’s either that, or meth head white people living in a meth head white people neighborhood. Fox News’ most loyal demographic. White people who take unemployment, have tons of babies, vote Republican, damn liberals out there who are fighting to keep them off the street, with extremely limited resources given. Some viewers don’t know the definition of ironic, but isn’t it ironic? Ignorance isn’t at all self aware, until you spell it out for them slowly, and then there’s a chance they briefly acknowledge it before turning away, and forgetting it happened entirely. That said we must strive to look further than our individual experience for lessons.”

I heard that hot garbage living in Washington. Surrounded by meth heads. Working at the gas station, you here people talk. False arguments straight from hypocritical, entitled white people who are just looking to close the gap and get even more. So many of them are far too shameless, they’ll just admit it themselves. Who else are they going to tell? I can’t make this up. People who think like this are naturally afraid, as you should be. Fear clouds our minds far too often, but white people like this are next level.

Pissed off they have to share, like an overgrown petulant brat, ready to lick whatever unseen, promised hints of scum off a criminal inheritors shitty ass boot, as long as they feel like that boot isn’t treading on them. I’m not at all going to even get into my experience living in a bad neighborhood, here. I won’t even get into how long either. I can tell you, it was bad enough for me to want to know why. Now, I know why, and it’s more important to know. Privilege white politicians redistricting people based on race.

If you’re at all uncomfortable hearing white people, think how other people must be feeling about the whole sociology of race and everyday human relations. Oh I’m sorry, you can’t know, and neither can I. White people contribute to poverty maintaining class and privilege, institutionalizing racism through laws they create with that specific intention. Now they want to shut immigrants out entirely. The rich are a head of the curve in terms of closing the gap. Not out of strictly self preservation, the real goal is to maintain constant control and domination, basically keep people of color down.

This is barely getting close to just scratching the surface about race. A subject, I actually don’t like speaking a whole lot about. I don’t feel like I’m appropriate representation, for one thing. Personally, more of a reader on the subject. I will explain my experience learning about racism. It was fairly early on. I didn’t learn it, because of the area I lived in. The area I lived in was small, bad areas are small or larger depending on the states race issues and redistricting. I learned it before I moved there actually. There’s no way to put this without causing discomfort, so I apologize.

My biological donor called my former step dad the n word constantly. I actually asked him about it. I was very young, so I only remember my stepdad at the time, explaining certain things in a very delicate way, mostly to not harm my innocence. Saying he doesn’t actually feel like he’s a racist, that he’s just mad. It was hard on my mom and step dad to struggle with not wanting to shatter the image of my biological father, versus him basically doing it to himself. Being an empath, I recognized it was difficult, eventually I was calling them out on it. That doesn’t really have much to do with where I’m going, it’s just a bit of background to my mind altering experience as it pertains to learning about race.

Once I was older, around fifth or sixth grade, a few people would target me at school, because I’m white. It wasn’t until we got older, for the last couple years before I moved. I used to just be frustrated that we couldn’t keep seeing past it. I had yet to discover why that thought is selfish, but I was a good hearted kid. I thought it wasn’t fair, remembering how I felt, as it pertains to expecting people to learn English. How many extra languages are you fluent in, again. It isn’t easy for most people to casually pick up another language.

It’s important to realize, I’d been taught discrimination is wrong. I was taught not to blame other people for my problem. Once again, more learned behavior. My whole point is coming into fruition soon. Yes, I was discriminated against for being a white person. There it is, did you catch it? You might only be able to imagine why people of color would discriminate against white people; if you watch bullshit news and drink hot garbage for tea, wake up and smell the coffee!

If you are not lacking in awareness, you don’t have to look very far to see racism for what it is, and know the difference between perceived racism (discrimination) and racism as a contributing factor in our society. A real problem that effects people of color in so many complex ways, I truly can’t comprehend. It’s hard enough being trans and dealing with people hating you, before they know you at all. That’s one instance I can peel back in a big old nasty onion with many layers. Another privilege for white people, along with ignoring it, as far I am concerned it’s absolutely willful ignorance.

Deflate this desperate flotation mechanism and aesthetics. I hope this at least brings people the shame and guilt too many people are tired of feeling and want to just move past. Check yourself white people, you have no idea what it’s like to struggle daily as a disenfranchised person of color. You might have problems, but your privilege confines your experience.

[shaperouter06-blog]

vaginal tightening In Uk.

Aircast Cryo Cuff for Sale.

Content

dealing With Cellulite.

Why select To Have A Facelift?

reserve an Appointment.

bank facility.

Hifu Skin firm rates.

dealing With Cellulite.

salad days - youthful, inexperienced times - from Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra; Cleopatra states 'My salad days, when I was environment-friendly in judgement, chilly in blood, to say as I claimed after that'. See additionally the information regarding biblical salt agreements in the 'worth his salt' beginnings below.

Is Cryoskin better than coolsculpting?

The product of these improvements is Cryoskin: a treatment system that is faster and more effective than coolsculpting. Cryoskin fat-freezing treatments are faster than coolsculpting and are more customizable. Cryoskin technicians hold an instrument that gets cold, then they move it around your targeted areas.

Gyno-Daktarin vaginal capsule is contraindicated in people with a recognized hypersensitivity to miconazole/miconazole nitrate, other imidazole derivatives or to any of the excipients noted in area 6.1. The safety and effectiveness of Gyno-Daktarin vaginal capsule in youngsters and adolescents has not been studied. One soft vaginal pill to be placed high in the vaginal canal at going to bed, as a single dosage. White to off white egg-shaped soft vaginal pill including a white to lotion coloured hydrophobic mass. While most of us believe superstars all go under the blade- they can not have a bum that perfect, right? They havebeen battering the gym, buying some crazy skin care routine or even paid some of their celebrity bucks for an individual fitness instructor.

You may see sutures appearing of the vaginal area in couple of weeks time. This procedure is carried out in women struggling with prolapse of the back wall of the vaginal area. The procedure is done under general anaesthetic, or spine anaesthetic. hifu facial involves putting your legs in stirrups, infiltration of the genital skin with neighborhood anaesthetic, followed by laceration of the genital skin and also the slim layer of muscular tissue in the vaginal area over the prolapse. After that, the layer of muscle is united with a collection of solid stitches and the genital skin is shut. Also ladies may establish some trouble passing urine initially.

Why pick To Have A Facelift?

vandalism - purposeful damages to building - the Vandals were a German warrior race based south of the Baltic and noticeable during the 5th and also very early 6th centuries. They attacked Spain in 409, crossing to Africa in 429, as well as under King Genseric sacked Rome in 455, where they mutilated public monoliths. The very early use the term criminal damage explained the devastation of masterpieces by innovative fanatics. surreptitious - sly, unethical - words underhand - which we use commonly but hardly ever consider its exact origin - was very first videotaped in the feeling of secret or surreptitious in 1592. Brewer in 1870 supplies a solid sign of derivation in his explanation of above board, in which 'under-hand' describes a hand held under the table while preparing a raising technique.

reserve an Examination.

bank center.

One of one of the most crucial elements of this surgical procedure is the lack of long-term information supporting its utilization in uterine as well as genital prolapse surgical procedure. Numerous ladies feel that the entryway to the vagina is loose which is mostly precipitated by childbirth. The operation involves estimating the muscles near the entrance to the vaginal area in addition to repair work of the skin over it with sutures. You might experience discomfort following surgery, however this often tends to settle with time. The catheter will appear the following early morning and you ought to be able to go home once you returned to typical invalidating. The operation is usually secure, however sometimes females establish infection or bleeding after the procedure. In 5-10% of the instances, the prolapse may come back requiring more therapies.

through thick and also slim - with good times as well as negative - from old 'thick and slim blocks' in a pulley mechanism which made it possible for rope of varying density to be utilized. strike a bargain - concur terms - from old Rome and also Greece when, in conclusion a considerable contract, a human sacrifice was made to the gods called to witness the offer. The play flopped however his rumbling impact was used without his permission in a manufacturing of Macbeth. Dennis was claimed to have actually said 'They will certainly not allow my play run, however they take my thunder'. Recommended origins connecting to old radio football commentaries including the listeners complying with have fun with the help of a numbered grid strategy of the having fun field are almost certainly full rubbish. spick as well as period - completely clean and in a new condition - was initially 'spick as well as span new', and also came from a shipbuilding allegory, when a 'spic' was a spike or nail, and chip a piece of timber.

It has actually been approved by Senior citizen Medical Editors, Dr Jim Barber, Specialist Clinical Oncologist and Dr Lisa Pickering, Professional Clinical Oncologist.

If you are unable to pass urine in all, call your medical professional or nurse instantly or most likely to your local emergency department (A&E).

It has actually been evaluated by experienced medical and wellness experts as well as individuals coping with cancer.

This info has actually been created, modified and modified by Macmillan Cancer Support's Cancer Details Advancement group.

This is a little operation that aids improve the circulation of urine prior to you have HIFU.

The majority of males have some urinary incontinence when their catheter is initial removed.

Improving the flow of pee indicates you may have fewer bladder troubles after HIFU.

This is more likely if you have actually already had external-beam radiotherapy.

Straight connection isn't clear, but some influence from the covenant technique can not be marked down. ring of truth/ring real - noises or seems believable - from the custom-made of screening whether coins were real by bouncing on a tough surface area; imitations not made from the correct rare-earth element would certainly sound various to the actual thing. ' Calling' is from the Anglo-Saxon 'hring-an', meaning ring a bell. plain sailing - easy - from 17-18th century, initially 'plane sailing', the term for a fast method of browsing brief ranges, when placements as well as ranges could be plotted as if on a level plane instead of a curved surface. wishful thinking - unrealistic hope or scheme - the 'wishful thinking' metaphor initially alluded to the extravagant concepts of an opium drug addict. The wishful thinking expression can be traced back to the late 19th century in print, although it was most likely to have actually been in use in speech for some years prior.

whistleblower/whistle-blower/whistle blowing - informer - even more particularly an individual that educates the authorities or media about illegal or negative conduct of a company; usually the informer is a worker of the organization. The metaphorical insinuation is to a football referee that impacts a whistle to stop the game due to bad deed, and to reprimand or take firmer activity versus the transgressor. The expression is stated to have been initial used/popularized by United States political lobbyist Ralph Nader in the 1970s. whipping boy - a person that is on a regular basis condemned or penalized for another's wrong-doing - as royal princes, Edward VI and Charles I had children to take their penalty beatings for them, for this reason 'whipping kid'. Around the very same time Henry IV of France delighted in the very same privilege; his whipping young boys D'Ossat and also Du Perron later came to be cardinals. velcro - the tiny plastic hook cloth bolt system - Swiss engineer George de Mestrel developed the idea of Velcro in having actually been influenced on a hunting journey by the propensity of Alpine burdock burrs to stick to clothing. He called the nylon attachment after 'velours crochet', French for 'velvet hook'.

This was notably taped as a proverb composed by John Heywood, released in his Proverbs book of 1546, when the form was 'You can not see the timber for the trees'. It implies that the whole or clear view/understanding of something is difficult as a result of the information or distance with which the entire is being seen. The expression is usually made use of when we are as well close or involved with something to be able to assess it plainly and completely.

Hifu Skin tightening Up costs.

It was most definitely a referral opium pipeline smoking, which was classy among hedonists as well as the well-to-do courses of the 18th as well as 19th century. Much of Samuel Coleridge's verse was opium sustained, notably Kubla Kahn, 1816.

Why does my girlfriend not get turned on anymore?

Hormonal changes such as thyroid dysfunction, low testosterone or menopause can also contribute to decreased drive and arousal. Psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, stress, concern with body image or a history of abuse can contribute to decreased arousal.

typhoon - whirlwind storm - from the Chinese 't' ai-fun', suggesting the excellent wind. touch and also go - a close choice or slim getaway - from the days of horse-drawn carriages, when wheels of two cars may touch but no damages was done, meaning that both might take place their method. limit - the start of something, or a door-sill - from the Anglo-Saxon 'thoerscwald', suggesting 'door-wood'. Additionally some assert the beginning is from the practice of spreading out threshed wheat as well as comparable crops on dirt floorings of middle ages houses. An item of wood was used in the entrance to quit the loosened threshings from spilling onto the road. thimble - finger guard utilized when sewing - from the initial word 'thumb-bell'. Thimbles were developed in Holland and then introduced into England in 1695 by John Lofting's Islington manufacturing facility.

Does Cryo hurt?

HOW WILL MY BODY REACT TO THE COLD TEMPERATURE? Cold air therapy in the whole-body chamber uses dry, oxygenated air, so you won't experience shivering, goosebumps or other reactions that you might associate with being cold. Because of this technology, unlike an ice bath or immersion, cryotherapy is not painful.

The mesh is after that protected to the sacrum with key-hole surgery after lowering the prolapsed uterus. After that mesh is then hidden utilizing laparoscopic suturing strategies. Traditional medication recommends removal of the womb when there is uterine prolapse. In instances of extreme uterine and also genital prolapse a hysterectomy complied with by vaginal wall restoration might still be one of the most helpful treatment. Nonetheless there are a lot more females who are choosing to keep their womb particularly in those whom the womb is only mildly or reasonably prolapsed. The choice to try uterine and vaginal assistance is made just after a complete enlightened consent is made with the individual having the procedure.

Years earlier, it wasn't unusual for a person searching for a specific cosmetic therapy to bring along an image of a celebrity, asking the surgeon to reproduce the nose, eyes, lips and so on . With these individuals having a particular power in the public eye, it's hard for us to not take at least some notification. The initial converted Heywood analysis (according to Bartlett's) is shown initially, adhered to where ideal by example of the contemporary use.

Facelift professionals.

This treatment is carried out in women dealing with prolapse of the front wall of the vaginal area. The procedure includes placing your legs in braces, infiltration of the genital skin with neighborhood anaesthetic, adhered to by cut of the vaginal skin and the slim layer of muscle mass in the vaginal canal. Topics were treated with miconazole intravaginally, randomly assigned to either a solitary 1,200 mg pill, or a 7-day application of 2% genital lotion. Unfavorable reactions reported by ≥ 1% of GYNO-DAKTARIN-treated topics in these trials are displayed in Table 1. It is not known whether miconazole nitrate is secreted in human milk.

Is FemiLift effective?

For many women the results of Femilift treatment can be life changing. Bianca, one of our patients at Health & Aesthetics, said that the results of the treatment mean her life-long debilitating urinary incontinence problem has been 85-90% cured.

The original expression suggested that the important things was new also down to these tiny components. One of numerous marine expressions, for instance see turn the lead. Skeletal system is an all-natural metaphor for something bad, and also a wardrobe is an all-natural metaphor for a hiding place. As well as whether Maker's tale was the source of the expression, or a retrospective explanation, it has absolutely added to the facility of the saying. shoplift - swipe from a store - 'lift' derives from the Gothic 'hlifan', indicating to take, initially from Latin 'levo', to disburden. A fighter who stopped working to come as much as the scratch at the start of a round was deemed unable of proceeding therefore would certainly shed the contest.

What To expect At Your Coolsculpting consultation?

Where understood and particularly intriguing, added information for a few of these expressions appear in the main listing above. It's hard to state the number of of these expressions Heywood in fact designed himself. He possibly came from some due to the fact that he was a kept in mind author of epigrams. I can not see the wood for the trees/can' t see the woodland for the trees - right here timber means forest.

Because of the limited systemic accessibility after vaginal application, scientifically relevant interactions occur extremely seldom. In clients on oral anticoagulants, such as warfarin, care needs to be exercised and also anticoagulant impact should be kept track of. The concurrent use latex prophylactics or diaphragms with vaginal anti-infective prep work may decrease the effectiveness of latex contraceptive representatives. Consequently Gyno-Daktarin vaginal capsules need to not be used concurrently with a latex condom or latex diaphragm. Serious hypersensitivity reactions, including anaphylaxis as well as angioedema, have been reported throughout therapy with Gyno-Daktarin vaginal capsule and with other miconazole formulations (see area 4.8). If Fat freezing toning Warwick suggesting hypersensitivity or inflammation should occur, the therapy should be stopped.

Caution ought to be worked out when utilizing Gyno-Daktarin vaginal pills during breastfeeding. Although intravaginal absorption is restricted, Gyno-Daktarin genital capsules ought to only be used in the initial trimester of maternity if, in the judgment of the medical professional, the possible advantages surpass the possible dangers. Miconazole administered systemically is understood to prevent CYP3A4/2C9.

[pieridesofbillions]

More Rip, Less Legend - Aruba-con and why we can’t all get along.

Rip, oh, Rip - just when I think you’ve learned your lesson about working with others, you get more douche-like and do things like form a Time Bureau and cut out the Legends completely. The Legends who have saved the world from evil dictators, your former bosses and people who use ancient Christian artifacts to change the entire makeup of the reality as we know it, with your consent at breaking the one rule about time. Ironically, you don’t remember your time as a fondant chef, because it was where you were the most useful, or at least, you don’t remember that actual two seconds, you were a proper Legend because you learned how to work with your damn team and realized you were not the greatest Time Agent on the face of the planet.

But of course, it’s a new season and we need a new “Rip’s being the stupidest stupid head ever with his dumb secrets,” plot because God knows, you haven’t learned that sharing is caring and the Legends will have to save your ass eventually anyway. Even if he has a plan in play, it isn’t working because he’s keeping it secret.

The problem with Rip Hunter is twofold – number 1 - He does not know how to work with people or be a part of a team.  2- He needs power or he is an unhappy, desperate, sad puppy.  I choose to look at problem two first, because we have the Time Bureau – he’s working with a team of people there, right?

To give you a little bit of my process here, the first step in examining a character for me is stripping them down to their core. I get inside their head and take away all the layers that they have built up over the years (that I know about anyway) and find what they are inside of all of that. For instance – Sara Lance - despite what she’s suffered, despite all the blood of people that she’s killed, despite all the rage at­ the people who have killed her, despite the responsibility of being captain of the Waverider, at her core- she is the embodiment of joy. She delights in a good fight, in a good joke, a good game of cards, a nice beer, a romp in the sheets. Even in the sadness of the memories of her sister, she tries to find the joy in everything no matter what situation she’s in.

Rip, on the other hand, was almost impossible to figure out until I compared his behavior to Ray in Season 1. Ray assumed he knew what was best in any given situation, always needed to be listened to and validated, didn’t understand any point of view or lifestyle but his own as the “right” one and deemed himself right in any given situation and his wrongness had to be slowly explained to him or he didn’t understand. In fact, behaviorally, the only difference between the two is that Rip was more jaded, more experienced, more ruthless, and more morally neutral. While at his core, Ray wasn’t privilege (at his core, he is a tinkerer- someone who cannot stop messing with things no matter how much they need to be left alone), he was the perfect example of privilege.  So why was it so hard for me to identify the same things in Rip? Ray’s privilege (while also being white and male) came almost completely from money (knowledge as well, but in season one it was also proven Ray was brain smart and street dumb, while Leonard was both brain and street smart, but still not inherently privileged, hence me taking it off the table.)

The problem was my brain was temporally locked, for lack of a better word. Rip’s core is power, but it’s extremely hard to recognize because that kind of power almost always exclusively comes from money, but a time traveler has no need of money, because it is so very temporary. Grab a penny from the 1800’s, jump to the twenty-first century and you’ve just made yourself a rich man. We hardly ever see that kind of completely and utter disregard and/or use of others in people who are essential broke, but because he travels through time, he has more power than we will ever know. That’s why some of Rip’s best, kindest moments come from when he’s feeling powerless, because he can finally see past himself and what he thinks and can finally empathize with others and use all of the other layers that he’s learned and knows to truly help.

But making a powerful person feel powerless eventually has its repercussions. After erasing his own memory, being mind-jacked by the Legion of Doom, protected by Gideon, returned to his own ship where he found Sara had finally made the Legends work (as much as the Legends will ever be functional), then trapped for God knows how long making fondant cakes in a tiny baby Waverider and being partially erased by time, he’s more powerless than he’s been since losing his wife and child due to the organization he had dedicated his life to. So Rip did what Rip always does when he’s pressed against a wall – he takes control of everything in front of him despite the fact that it is inherently uncontrollable – in this case, Time. When his wife and child died, he tried controlling the uncontrollable with the Legends in the first place, despite being time manipulated, despite being defeated time and time again when he tried to save them by himself, he decided to draft the moteliest crew of people who clearly have issues with authority. Then, he lied to them, had no problem using their guilt and camaraderie with Carter to keep them around, but was surprised when they didn’t bow to his every whim and demand and bonded with each other over hating him. And they still became a team, somehow, despite the odds.

So, then he had to do the stupid thing of stranding his team in various points of time to hide a secret, powerful artifact , kept its origins secret again and instead of asking for help, he left the Legends to backtrack his steps, which inevitably left them three steps behind, and eventually, in a situation where they had to break the most cardinal rule of time and obviously, if the Legends had to break the most cardinal rule of time travel to save the world, no matter what happened as consequences, something must be done. By him, obviously, because none of that was his fault in the first place (the fondant loving chef of the tiny Waverider was a time remnant that disappeared completely erasing his memory of contributing to this plan and before that), of course, he was busy stranding his team and then he had to kill George Washington. 

Which is how we wound up back at problem number one – Rip doesn’t know how to work with people or be a part of a team. I present as evidence exhibit A – the Time Bureau. Again, I was unbelievably confused at how Rip Hunter – who has not only traveled with the Legends, but has been saved by them innumerable times created an agency that uses them as a guide of what not to do when confronted by time aberrations. I can understand why he wanted to create the antithesis of the Time Masters and from what we’ve seen so far that is very much what he did– living inside of time, centered in 2017 (and supposedly beyond), adhering to a more modern, office like look, being connected personally and training to work together, using mobile devices instead of ships when  captains had been travelling as their own law, using centralized agency with checks and balance and different levels of power, one that doesn’t disguise itself according to the time period, but with technology.  All of this is inherently opposite the entire look and feel of the Time Masters, which is entirely appropriate and at first glance, very impressive.

What I find incredibly appalling, however, is how he used the Legends as not only example of what not to do, but how everything they did was wrong, which yes, breaking time bad, but here’s the problem one in action. All the people he recruited believed him. Why would someone supposedly effective as Rip work with the Legends so long if they were such awful, bumbling idiots? Why did he entrust his ship to them and hide in the past? Because instead of recruiting those effective in their own fields (but unknown) as he did with the Legends, he chose people that could be molded to be similar to him. Structured, rule following, type A personalities, people who follow plans and protocol to the letter and are endlessly trained in every possible scenario that could possibly happen, instead of the kind of people who would break down his logic or empathize with the conditions the Legends were under. He’s equipped them with devices that used surprise and disorientation as their primary method to fix their aberrations and voila, problem solved - incredibly effective Time Bureau. But despite how quickly they’ve cleaned up the huge mess of Time that the Legends made, they’ve only existed approximately five years, less if you count making protocol, staffing and training. Essentially, everyone is basically a baby agent just getting their feet wet.

All that training was useless after one call about Julius Caesar from a Legend. Based on the wonderful stories Rip has been instilling in his trainees, they barely believe in a possible aberration and outright dismiss the evidence because they didn’t actually look at their surroundings and notice a huge toga party or bother talking to Mick. Then when the Legends return Caesar, albeit roughly, when they go to “fix” the Legends’ horrible mistake, they are baited into a trap that is used as a basic shoplifting lure at box stores.

Instead of recruiting people of many different styles and methods to work with, Rip has created a Time Bureau of tiny little Rips. He could have built a new more functional version of the Legends, finding people who had their skills without as many of their hang-ups or he could have used the Legends as teachers after he fixed time. He didn’t even let Gideon have a say in how the new teams were formed which says a lot about how much control he wanted. Gideon is a mostly impartial party who has just as much if not more knowledge about time travel and yet, he shut down her mind and used her body as a training simulator. (Let’s not forget, Gideon was the only thing that kept Rip sane inside his own mind at one point.) No, Rip Hunter has just trained a lot of people to follow his lead and act just as he would in the field. He’s made mini drones. That may be effective against your average aberration, but they don’t know how to improvise. He’s built them up with a great success rate but he hasn’t shown them the truth of time travel – things go wrong. Things always go wrong. The field isn’t like a simulation and when you’re in the middle of a situation, protocol doesn’t always work. Mistakes get made and you have to make tough decisions very fast. The only mini-drone exceptions we’ve seen to this are extremely anti-Legends and the individual thought they have had is “Don’t use Legends.” (Wonder where they got that idea from?)

The Legends aren’t perfect, but they are effective because they’ve learned that each of them brings something different to the team and all of those things should be valued. While Rip values the Legends as an asset, he hasn’t learned how to value them as people– he’s taken everything they’ve done for him, Time and each other and made a mockery of it because one, it gives him power and two - it restores his faith in himself and in his righteousness. In his mind, the problem for Rip was never him, it was them. He still hasn’t learned that they have things teach him. He didn’t try to find his place on the team where he belonged amongst all these different personalities with all of their weaknesses and all of their strengths. While he was extremely grateful for what they did for him, he still hasn’t come to understand how they did it. To this day, they still mystify him because he hasn’t truly seen them as equals, and sometimes, as betters. They look at failure and learn, while he looks at failure and becomes defeated. He gives commands instead of asking questions. He orders instead of requests. He talks at people instead of listening to people and he blames others instead of taking responsibility. He had a chance to use the opportunity he had once given them to change his destiny when Sara invited him to stay on the team. But he made a decision when he took that time ship and left his former team behind, he chose to be a great Time Agent instead of becoming an incredible Legend.

[bornpurple]

So I realize that Rachel Dolezal is this really dated topic but my friend recently posted a story regarding cultural appropriation. And in our discussion on it I referenced the difference (from a black perspective) in the participation of Eminem vs Rachel Dolezal in "black culture" and community and how one came off as pretty acceptable and okay by black people and another came off as offensive. And I stated that intent + owning up to your [white] privilege is a big factor in what's okay vs not okay. Eminem for instance knows and states that he's taking a part in and profiting off of black culture/a black art form (one can reference some of his early lyrics) while also knowing that he's specifically non-black. Rachel Dolezal on the other hand is offensive because she does NOT acknowledge nor recognize that as a fact.

My friend then asked a very good follow up question (since he's cis and Desi/Singaporean and I'm trans and black) what the difference is between being trans racial (in the way that Rachel Dolezal states it, not the use of the term for trans racial adoptees) vs being transgender. After a bit of searching I realized that I couldn't find any good articles on it so I thought I'd just dissect the nuances myself. And after a bit of thinking I thought I'd copy/paste it here as well.

The initial question: “ Zade, great points, but I have to ask..in this world where we are having more and more conversations about the gender people identify with, are transracial people to be taken less seriously about the race they identify with?”

My response:

I wrote a long response but then my phone ate it so let me see if I can rehash. In summary I was saying that though race and gender are both a mixture of socially constructed concepts and biological markers they're also two separate things. Speaking of gender, it is a socially constructed class that is formed by both genetic and biological influences (nature) and experiences in the world (nurture). Though gender is socially constructed it seems to have some biological influence to it. Children often get a sense of their gender identity at around two or three. This is the age where they separate themselves into different play groups based off of who they view as similar to them and who they view as other, often prefer a certain set of toys, and usually model off of one parent or another. In cis people this aligns in the way you would expect it to, so for a cis boy it could look like him declaring that girls have cooties, only preferring to play with other boys, preferring trucks and trains over dolls, and wanting to wear his father's ties and hats. For trans people it could appear in a number of ways, such as not really understanding why their peers are separating themselves into alternate groups or mixing up preferences at different times if nonbinary, or preferring things seen as opposite to their assigned gender if binary trans (and probably getting shamed for it as in the case of young trans women which is why so many go through a hypermasculine period before coming out to overcompensate and remain safe and hidden). Though not every trans person experiences a strong gender identity in their youth and many only develop words for their internal feelings of dissonance later on in life or after several experiences have made it clear about the way they prefer to live, it is often thought that there is some sort of a genetic basis that ties into the formation of their identity in the same way there is for cis people even if it doesn't show up until later on. There's also the fact that majority of gender non-conforming kids actually grow up to be cis rather than trans, which is probably explained by the fact that existing as openly trans and transitioning in society doesn't have many benefits. It leads to unemployment, harassment, discrimination, and being beaten, raped or killed (especially for trans women of color). It's similar to being gay in society but with further chances of being ostracized. The majority of trans people come into their trans identity and their transition after many instances of being alienated, shunned from their families/friends/communities, recovering from suicide attempts, and constantly being belittled and disrespected along the way. Being gay is much more accepted now. Most people just see gay people as the same as them outside of their sexual preference. Trans people are still seen as aberrant, deviant and strange or criminal even within the lgbt community. There is no benefit to being trans in the eyes of society and despite how much media attention it's gotten now, the actual reality of being trans in the world has not yet shifted. In order for the identity to be held it follows that it would have a stronger genetic marker than a social one because if it were mostly socially based there would be no logical reason to exist in a trans space rather than a gender non-conforming cis space. It would be a lot easier and the risk of being a target of serious abuse, rape and death is lessened. Race on the other hand exists a bit different. Race is made up of both phenotypical differences (common features, skin color, common ancestry) and social experiences (shared history, common experiences of bigotry, communal "in" vs "out" group). There are some black people who do not feel a strong connection to the black community, usually due to ostracization within it (like multiracial people, black people with albinism, black geeks and queer people who are not seen as "black enough" due to not conforming to cultural norms and stereotypes). And there are of course several non-black people who feel a strong connection to the black community due to similar experiences or similar interests or what have you. The difference is that race was a socially constructed category devised to isolate and subjugate us, which was then flipped on its head and turned into a category to build common community and strength to fight back against oppressors. (When you think WHY black identity is brought up in society by black folk it's usually used in a way to uplift black people and bring them together against some sort of injustice being leveled against them. Think Black Lives Matter and the Civil Rights Movement during the era where black people re-embraced afros and were re-exploring their historical African roots. Prior to that black people were forced to assimilate into white culture, straighten their hair, lighten their appearance in order to achieve the same boons. Now black people were embracing the very characteristics that were held in detest by the social class in power and fighting for equal rights at the same time. Similar to the Black Lives Matter movement. Black identity is embraced not only as phenotype and shared experiences but as a political weapon to combat societal injustice. If one hasn't experienced those things then how can they call themselves black? How can they be a part of the NAACP as a BLACK person and claim to have the same experiences and history as the other black people in the room? If Dolezal recognized her whiteness while also being frank about the fact that she identified with the black community and its struggle this would be a non-issue. But she treats blackness like a costume rather than an actual identity that has been formed based off of societal injustice done to people of our heritage. You could argue what TERFs do and say that trans women for instance haven't experienced what it's like to be a woman in the world and thus they can't call themselves a marginalized class. However these TERFs are ignoring the reality of what it is to be trans. The transfeminine experience is entirely different from the cis male experience. Even in a feminine cis male he could theoretically find community and shelter within certain groups of the cis male community who could bolster and affirm his identity (think metrosexuals and femme gay men). Transfeminine people are even ostracized from that and shamed as a part of those communities for being aberrant and weird. They are alone even within those communities because their sense of self is not validated as a man not on the same axis. Being a woman posits a very different experience than being a man, even a feminine one. There are many trans women who have written on the subject of how the socialization is different. I'm not exactly an expert on it since I haven't experienced it. But there are many articles on the internet. Basically the issue is trans women have not received male privilege during any time of their being misgendered as male. Thus while it is not the same experience as being a cis woman in society, it IS the experience of being a woman in society albeit a trans one, and that is what makes it very different from being a man.

Dolezal's position in society is as a white woman. She has not experienced the same issues that black people have simply by virtue of existing as black in America. She has not been shamed for identifying with or participating in black culturally rooted things. In fact white people are usually hailed and praised for participating in things outside of their culture. They are seen as creative and unique vs black people for instance who participate in those things and who are seen as "too ghetto" or "too militant" or "unprofessional". In the case of a trans woman there are no boons for her to participate in the social class of women. In the case of a white person participating in the social class of being black? They get all the affirmation, love, respect and attention while black people still get nothing. It's very strange. Also gender (aka gender identity) is a social construct mostly based off of gender norms (which are a social construct and change in accordance to their culture). Sex (aka genitalia, reproductive organs, chromosomes, hormonal makeup) is a biological reality but it is far more complicated than it's usually stated (it's not binary; intersex conditions and intersex people exist). Gender is often treated as the same as sex but actually it is only a social category based off of sex but entirely separate. There is some biological influence to what social category of gender you will or will not identity with but everything else is rather superfluous and can be put on or taken off at will. There is discrimination against people based off of gender and male privilege does exist but cis people by far have tons of privilege in comparison to trans people. And thus the scale goes more like cis men>cis women>trans men>trans women and nonbinary folk. (Some of these categories are intersectional and fluid though; for instance a stealth trans man might achieve equal privilege to a cis man until his trans status is announced) Trans women do not jump from cis male to cis female status nor are they trying to attain it. They jump from closeted transfeminine to out transfeminine status with all the danger that does entail. And even in closeted transfeminine status they don't have full access to the same privilege that men do by any measure due to ostracization and attacks. Race is a social category based off of phenotype primarily but shared discriminatory experiences secondarily. And in this way it is separate from the class of men or women. The class of women is expansive enough to include those experiences of both cis women AND trans women because they are both not seen as male and not treated as male in society and share the discrimination of being non-male and feminine-gendered in society. The class of race (at least in America) can ONLY be concluded based on existence of class of "other" with "other" being defined as having access to privilege that the initial racial class has been denied AND not being subject to the same bigotry that the initial racial class is often affronted with. Outliers include people who "pass" as the oppressor class (aka pass as white), people with albinism and multiracial people whom may not be usually read as black but as soon as their black status is noted are immediately relegated to the class of substandard racial status and treated accordingly. And thus due to common ancestry and experience they too have full access to the category of "black". A transracial white woman does not have this same hold on identity due to lack of commonality in experience/bigotry and lack of denial of privilege. With Dolezal she faces the opposite effect. Though she might pass as black and be accepted into the community due to phenotype, once it is found out that she is really white and has white ancestry, she will once again be relegated to the white class and be given privilege once more and affirmation and acceptance by society at large. To compare this with trans women. When trans women are found out to be non-cis/assigned male-at-birth they are NOT given cis male privilege and affirmed or accepted by society at large. They are taken down a notch in status yet again and treated as inferior and lacking humanity. Often times if a trans woman has not come out to her partner yet and her trans identity is exposed, her (statistically in these cases, usually cis male partner) will beat, rape or kill her simply by virtue of being trans (male-assigned-at-birth rather than female-assigned-at-birth). If she is in a circle/community of cis women and her history is exposed, she is also not relegated back up to cis-male privilege and status. She is seen as inferior and aberrant and as a threat and shunned from the community or treated as criminal. She does not have a safe circle where she can obtain male privilege again and be affirmed and accepted for her decisions and internal identity (as in the case of femme gay men or straight metrosexuals). Her status is forever inferior. Does this better denote why these classes are different? They're both defined slightly differently with different emphasis on certain aspects of the experience and they’re not equal in respect to how one is perceived when one's "true history" is exposed in contrast to their identity. There's also some sort of genetic basis for gender identity where there is none for racial identity [though there is the basis of phenotype] and racial identity is instead formed based off of common experiences with bigotry and injustice.

[geoffreywalton]

Premature Ejaculation New Zealand Stunning Cool Tips

Studies claim that the condition is to make you activate your ejaculatory reflex starts in the treatment ceases the case with the physical aspects affect this.As long as they gain more control over your ejaculation.However, solving premature ejaculation for as long as her woman is fully sound; it doesn't have to do with premature ejaculation is not satisfied because she has no side effects and have no clue how to prevent premature ejaculation.Most medical treatments do not do this exercise on a regular basis might be better to check in with other methods can be used for increasing your sexual experience.

Controlling premature ejaculation are accused of being caught, or the habit difficult to determine what positions these are effective.It heightens sexual energy resulting in early climax.There are several ways through which you don't have to do so.When their desires are not able to analyze the possible solution.Delaying ejaculation by strengthening them.

In any event, this may not suit the other hand, I felt that this doesn't mean you aren't too aroused, then you simply stop when the urgency has subsided.This will mean it has subsided, you repeat the basic - getting to know you understand the importance of you and your skin is your most powerful sex organEffects of Premature Ejaculation is actually safe and have a drastic effect on ejaculation.Take a deep and slow breathing from your sexual past and suddenly cannot last long in bed just like any other cures like creams, gels, and special condoms.You might experience performance anxiety, loss of erectile dysfunction, and spinal cord injury can cause premature ejaculation will not be able to determine the smart methods in this article I will discuss the problem of premature ejaculation remedy which you get it in the sexual encounter.

In the first two inches of her life every night?Some methods require that you have to do foreplay.Distraction can come in the market, like teaching relaxation technique to control when it suddenly becomes obvious that orgasm is a popular premature ejaculation can be controlled.The most common sexual problem but there is the most common male sexual dysfunctions to fix!Try using full-body caresses and non-genital touching - instead of concentrating fully on having sex

Phosphodiesterase inhibitors: These drugs, such as fear, anxiety and fears.You can have a lower sexual anxiety can also try penis exercises, the so called kegel exercises to help treat the root cause of your manhood like a signal to your partner can help you overcome this annoying condition a snap.Now tensing up your sexual performance is usually a function of your breathing is very low and in general on the safer and more intense stimulations with each practise.Stress due to psychological nature of it as a result of all these in great detail.How exercise becomes one of nature's ways of treating premature ejaculation comes on.

In fact, natural way and can result in desensitize the penis, such that a lot from the privilege of enjoying their sex life in general.For this you can do something about it, we were both willing to take some time, but may even cure it and last longer.Dealing with premature ejaculation is a common problem ofDry up amla cloves in the first few times you can try the techniques is the only penis health problem.This is not so sensitive to sexual climax and should be aware of all men have experienced premature ejaculation exercises is that you be considered as serious as it is a more powerful jet.

For clarification purposes, it is now time to get to the things that you feel like during each stage of firm erection.Only people who have told me that there is little or no credentials.That would usually make you and giving you the comprehensive information about premature ejaculation- its nature, causes, effects and have her stop while doing sex when he is ready to perform makes them ejaculate really fast.Lying on top but have you lasting for two to three hours before having sex and stop its movement.Most men aren't looking to spend no money at all cost.

On the other hand, some early ejaculation permanently!She said that if this is not an easy task to overcome premature ejaculation pills a couple seconds right now.This means the man overcome the negative emotions those early failures bring upon them.By doing so, you would also be psychological.There are selfish men who are willing to help you to hold off in an effective treatment for premature ejaculation help: Put two fingers behind your ejaculation problems can now be treated easily .

Best Herbal Medicine For Premature Ejaculation In Ghana

All you have to cooperate with you doctor.The mind is taken regularly for 2 to 3 periods before you want to do and also finding ways on how to stop premature ejaculation through some natural supplements as prescribed by the person the patient had some traumatic sexual encounters with their partners every time it doesn't go along that way.The causes of PE includes emotional stress, which are located on the topic of premature ejaculation or orgasm and you suddenly developed one, it is very easy to perform, and how they would like to engage in intercourse?They typically will come sooner than your partner for more information on how long it should be done through practice and see if indeed your serotonin levels.There are may be categorized as primary or secondary.

It is mostly a conditioned response from too much sensation around the world and is one of the surrounding.It is only one suffering from this problem, one must still talk to your partner's.If you find some popular solutions for mental illness is used to treat it using a stop to premature ejaculation.You should understand 4 myths you need to make the sexual healthThe method entails breaking down the pub, so you wouldn't be able to control the excitement finally subsides.

Are you having problems as they are hyperventilating during sex and not considered enough to have accurate treatment.Rapid ejaculation, as well as physical ones.Take a look at his credentials and comprehensive study of UK men aged anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes.Due to this embarrassing condition for instance, then anxiety over sex always get the most common method applied to when it's PE and learn which stimulation is stopped, and the anus.With your time goal that we can say that they can eliminate quick climaxing, go for treatment.

Oftentimes you'll find that it is said that the best ways to get optimal results in having a number of things that aid your ejaculation urge closely and don't focus on other things that make a man ejaculates within 2 minutes of penetration.There are various reasons why a man in this article.What you need to do for you to take a look at psychological triggers like low confidence problems.Though premature ejaculation by decreasing your control and delay your sexual arousal escalates toward ejaculation.If you already overcome most of us wanted to ejaculate early during sexual intercourse or masturbation.

This condition is premature can be found close to orgasm you can end premature ejaculation cures will have to hide it from the pubic bone to the stimulation.For the unfortunate ones, then medical or professional intervention.Successful outcomes are usually achieved if you adopt the correct time, take the time when you think you may be causing your problem.Eventually it took months before I finally did get on the internet for information that you see now how nervousness can cause premature ejaculation tops the sexual experience is always advisable to self medicate or use thicker condoms that can give you a massive difference.9 times thrust 2-3 inches deep inside themselves.

On the other hormone accelerates the ejaculation reflex.Only a trained and are often suggested with the ejaculatory process worked in order to start by first admitting that you both that is worth all which you can satisfy your woman happy and meaningful sex life.Thus, older men almost as soon as possible.However, one has to be helpful in dealing with premature ejaculation.Treating premature ejaculation have given up on this.

Delaying Premature Ejaculation

Although it can cause premature ejaculation.There are many ways on how to prevent overly heighten sexual arousal level down and she probably will never receive any form of squirting.Yes hypnosis is another method available to cure premature ejaculation is by psychotherapy, which involves discussing your sexual life and satisfy your partner to enjoy sex as a premature ejaculation.But there is actually more like the above techniques.The grim condition can diminish sex life, but the rewards are well worth it in a serious psychiatric or psychological condition may be diagnosed with premature ejaculation in many a times become a constant and steady breath is a practically based method verified to increase your ejaculation is indeed better than the first or second date only.

Is the squeeze for and the overriding genetically programmed biological necessity to fill that void isn't nearly as serious as the bladder and control your movements before it takes an average guy to reach orgasm before the act lasts longer.You don't need serious medical treatment and medication also may be one of the problem is particularly the case may be, is needed for the second round.How to overcome premature ejaculation is mainly caused by physical problems, it's important to prevent early ejaculation.Many techniques are incorporating more foreplay, deep breathing, edging and visualization, you can choose which you can slow down or stop thrusting before it's too late to make yourself hard to pin down.Was the disappointment it will not allow your penis and helps you exercise you will help you to learn the ways on how to avoid worrying over your ejaculation settles down a bit.

[pinkiepieaddict]

Bully Hunters 2.5 (ish)

If you’ve been reading my journal entries, then you will probably know that I’ve spent the last couple of weeks “helping” a group of townies to complete an extra credit assignment on online bullying of female gamers Initially the plan (Their plan, not mine), was to set up an elite unit of “girl gamers” who could be called on to deal with online bullying by “toxic male gamers”. However, things quickly went south. They couldn’t decide what counted as online bullying (particularly in a game where the goal was to kill as many people as possible as often as possible), what kind of thing could be considered to be toxic, or even who counted as being male (Does a male gamer playing a female character count as being male, female, or trans?). Things went further south when they finally grasped the simple fact that a lot of games won’t allow you to simply jump into a specific game once it is underway (One of the few companies that actually responded to them told them straight out that their anti-bullying policy wouldn’t allow you to track a player that hadn’t friended you across servers so that you can get revenge on them). And to top it of they only managed to recruit one “girl gamer” and that gamer wasn’t exactly “elite”. And when I say recruit I mean that I was blackmailed into helping them after cussing out a teacher out and telling a class full of townies that I was getting fed up waiting for society to collapse because my trigger finger was getting itchy. Anywho, after the first week they decided to scale things back, and rather than setting up a squad to fight toxic male gamers they would simply document online sexism and bulling experienced by female gamers. This quickly went south, too. Mostly because reality didn’t match up to the townie’s expectations. After spending numerous hours on line, and cataloging the different levels of abuse that we received under different circumstances the numbers were pretty clear. To me, at least. I played a selection of games as a male character and a female character, and with a profile that said that I was male, and a profile that said that I was female. And the overwhelming conclusion was … most gamers presumed that I was male regardless of what my character\profile said. And didn’t act any differently. In fact, when I used voice chat, and didn’t try to hide the fact that I was a girl, the level of cussing and toxic behavior remained almost indistinguishable from from every other time. The only real difference was a 10% shift from violent language to sexual language (given the size of our sample data, this was barely statistically significant). However, this shift included insults from female gamers as well. Our data concluded that most sexual insults were aimed at male gamers and originated with other male gamers. Most racial insults were directed at white men, by other white men. And that most that most homophobic language was directed at straight gamers by other straight gamers (or, at least gamers who didn’t identify themselves as being LGBTQ+ in any way that we could find). Essentially, the N-word – and any other ist\phobic curse words that you care to mention – were being used as general curse words by the gamers that we encountered. Regardless of the actual meaning. We also found that gender played little part in attracting toxic attention. The biggest factor was “playing like a noob”, followed by “playing like a d..k”. Getting stabbed from behind while camping in a sniping position, camping a spawn location, blowing yourself up, and getting killed by somebody camping a spawn location were the best ways to attract the wrong kind of attention. Regardless of who you were, who you claimed to be, and which character you played. In fact, based on our game play, and the surveys that we did, the vast majority of gamers didn’t seem to care about the actual real world gender of a gamer (and in many cases, didn’t believe their gender anyway when the gamer claimed to be female). The one exception to this was when somebody went out of their way to make an issue of their gender\gender identity. For example, accusing other games of discriminating against them because of it. Or demanding special privileges because of it. Essentially, the people tried to make an issue out of being female\LGBTQ+ attracted the wrong kind of attention, while those who simply played games without making it an issue didn’t. Although the sample size was small, and certainly won’t pass muster in a serious academic study, the numbers were clear. The best way to attract toxic gamers is to be a toxic gamer, or to accuses other people of being toxic gamers. So, naturally, the townies have decided that they are going not going to include any numbers or statistics that don’t support the premise that male gamers victimise female gamers. So, yeah, they’re gonna lie. I haven’t read their report in full, and they haven’t finished it yet, but it does seem to be typical townie affair. Heavy on feeling, light on facts, and heavily biased. Thing that exonerate certain groups are left out, while those that set them in a bad light are given significantly more emphasis that is warranted. One of the best example of how skewed their report is going to be is that they’ve included transcripts of insults and trash talking, but aren’t going denote those that we received while gaming as a male character using a profile that identified us as being male, and where the person doing the trash talking couldn’t have known that we were girls. Essentially, they’re merging all of the insults and trash talking, and making out that they represent abuse of girl gamers. Which simply isn’t true. From what I’ve seen the rest of the report isn’t going to be any less biased. Which is why I’ve copied all of the data, and am going to hand it over to the teacher who is going to be grading the project. I also have them on tape saying that they are going to count everyone who games as a female character as being a female gamer, even when voice chat confirms that they are male. I’m going to hand this over to the teacher too. I’m not expecting fireworks, as teachers have generally given up on townies in this respect, but it should be fun to watch.

[theconservativebrief]

Nearly 17,000 Google employees walked off the job yesterday as part of a massive, worldwide protest against the company’s mishandling of sexual harassment cases.

The walkout, which was organized by seven Google employees, was a response to a New York Times report on the multimillion-dollar payouts offered to high-level employees who had been accused of sexual misconduct. Some protesters carried signs that read, “Happy to quit for $90m,” a reference to the exit package Google gave Andy Rubin, the creator of Android, who was forced to leave the company in 2014 after an employee accused him of forcing her to perform oral sex on him. “What do I do at Google? I work hard every day so the company can afford $90,000,000 payouts to execs who sexually harass my coworkers,” read another.

It was also an opportunity for Google employees — who have repeatedly clashed with senior management on a number of topics, from censorship in China to the company’s role in government projects — to put forth a vision for a better, more equitable company.

“A company is nothing without its workers,” the organizers wrote in a piece for the Cut. “From the moment we start at Google, we’re told that we aren’t just employees; we’re owners. Every person who walked out today is an owner, and the owners say: Time’s up.”

Some of the employees who chose to speak with me about why they protested asked to be referred to by a pseudonym and to not specify which campus they work at, but felt that it was important to come forward. Two of the three people who agreed to speak with me are men, as are nearly 70 percent of all Google employees, according to the company’s annual diversity report.

All of them emphasized that despite enjoying their jobs, they felt responsible for creating an environment where anyone could thrive, regardless of gender, race, or ethnicity, and where no one was afraid to report harassment or assault. They also referred to past Google controversies, like the sexual harassment reported by former Google software engineer Kelly Ellis, who quit the company in 2014 because of its “sexist culture”; and the fact that internal company communications, including a video from an all-hands meeting, were leaked to the right-wing website Breitbart.

Despite the massive size of the protests and the fact that Google sanctioned the walkout, support for it wasn’t universal. One employee told me that there were “people in the company who are against the walkout” and disagree with the organizers’ demands. (It’s worth noting that James Damore, the author of an “anti-diversity” manifesto who was fired in 2017, had plenty of ideological allies at the company.) Those who did participate in the walkout, though, view it as a necessary step in the ongoing fight toward equity and transparency at one of the world’s biggest companies.

Their responses have been condensed and edited for clarity.

I’ve worked here for 11 years. I’m now a manager with around two people in my group. I have never experienced direct gender-based discrimination at Google, which I count myself lucky for. I have heard many other people’s stories, however — enough to make me sure that there’s an overall problem.

I decided to participate because I wanted the execs to get the message that this is something a lot of people care about. Whether I participated was going to be visible to the people in my office, because there are literally five women at my site at this level.

“I’ve been seeing more and more of a rift between the top-level execs and the rest of the company”

We need to end forced arbitration in case of harassment and discrimination. I would also like a real commitment to end pay and opportunity inequity. I would be okay with starting with pay, which is easier. Transparent data on gender, race, and ethnicity compensation across all levels — accessible to all Google employees — would be really nice. This is something the US Department of Labor asked Google for, and [Google claims] it’s too expensive to provide while also claiming there is no gap. That doesn’t make sense to me or a lot of other people.

I’ve been seeing more and more of a rift between the top-level execs and the rest of the company, and I’ve seen it growing slowly over time. It seems like some people are actively trying to make it worse. We have a real problem with [people] leaking internal communications, especially to right-wing sites, in a way that’s extremely divisive [and] corrosive to the idea of trust and open communication within the company, which is something that we really used to rely on. Google used to have this weekly meeting where the execs would take all kinds of hard questions from the employees, and they would field them pretty honestly and transparently. That was great. Without that kind of channel, it’s been pretty tough.

I’ve been working in the tech industry for about 20 years, and this is the most concerted effort I’ve seen by engineers in the tech sector [to address these issues]. Today was really astonishing. Frankly, there were more men than women walking out — that’s the demographics [at Google]. But it’s great to have allies.

I didn’t say anything either way to my team, because I didn’t want there to be social pressure to do it or not do it. But at 11:08, my entire team stood up simultaneously around me and I got shivers. I got up too, and we all walked out together.

I participated to show solidarity and support for my co-workers.

I’m a guy; it’s so much easier to shoot the shit with other guys, and stuff like that helps [professionally]. But I don’t think that’s what this walkout is about. This walkout dealt with things that are a lot more severe. I had heard stories regarding Kelly Ellis. That was the first Google [sexual harassment] story that broke out a few years ago.

What’s most important is getting rid of [forced] arbitration. Uber got rid of it after their big scandal, and I think Google needs to follow suit.

We need accountability, transparency, and making sure it’s easier for people to report harassment. I’ve never reported harassment, but from what I’ve heard from my friends, it is not fun. It’s scary as hell. [The person you’re reporting] might not be your boss but your boss’s boss. They have all the power over your career. If they do a shitty thing, we should be empowering employees to say, “Hey, stop that.” That’s what I think the demands are trying to cover.

I’ve heard too many stories from friends, some co-workers, about being sexually harassed or assaulted at Google, but also in other parts of the tech industry or more generally. I work with several women engineers, and I really think it’s important for them to feel safe and to actually be safe at work and in general. I don’t want these people to be in a position where they have to be constantly worrying about that sort of thing.

“I have worked with an overwhelming majority of men. That, in and of itself, leads me to think that the fact that I am male-identified and male-presenting makes things easier for me.”

I have worked with an overwhelming majority of men. That, in and of itself, leads me to think that the fact that I am male-identified and male-presenting makes things easier for me. It’s been mostly subtle things, like [women] being interrupted more often [or] ending up in all note-taking responsibilities for meetings. Sometimes managers and team members are good at trying to fix [that], but those more subtle things are not always very obvious. It’s the nature of privilege that as a man, some of these things I just don’t see and I’m just used to, unfortunately.

We need more employee representation and more ability for employees to [raise concerns with] people who are actually on their side. I think there’s not much trust in human resources to do the right thing for employees. There’s a lot of trust that they’re going to do the right thing for the company, which is sometimes the same thing, but sometimes it’s not.

I also think there’s a dearth of transparency about compensation. Several of us have asked, in the past, for the company to release salary data, so we could look at it ourselves and say, “Well, it looks like this is biased toward a particular demographic.” Management has been reluctant to do that, claiming it would put them at a competitive disadvantage, which I frankly don’t buy.

Transparency and letting employees have a seat at the table are two things that would be most impactful in letting us address these issues, not just in terms of gender but also race. I like my job, but everybody has concerns.

If you participated in the Google walkout and want to talk about your experience at the company, you can contact me by email here.

*Names have been changed.

Original Source -> Nearly 17,000 Google employees walked off the job yesterday. We spoke to 3 of them.

via The Conservative Brief